


Traveling Soldier

by Captain_Narava



Category: Star Wars: The Old Republic
Genre: Dixie Chicks, F/M, Traveling Soldier
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-07
Updated: 2016-06-07
Packaged: 2018-07-12 23:34:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7128479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Captain_Narava/pseuds/Captain_Narava
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Inspired by “Traveling Soldier” by the Dixie Chicks.  Spoilers for the beginning of the smuggler storyline and Corso’s companion questline if you stand on something and look *really* hard.  Since we don’t have a name for the fiancee, I made one up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Traveling Soldier

"Corso, I..." she started.  
"Don't say it, Jayna," interrupted Corso, "If you say it, then I won't be able to go, and I have to go."  
"But I don't want you to go!" cried Jayna. She turned away, looking at the ground, "I wish that none of this had ever happened."  
"Oh, believe me, so do I," stated Corso, "It was my parents that died."  
"I know," she whispered, turning and looking at him with tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry."  
"Hey, come here," said Corso, putting his arms around her, "I know what you mean, I shouldn't have snapped."  
"I don't want to fight," she sniffled into his chest.  
"Then let's not fight," he said, "Let's dry your eyes, I want to remember your smile when I think of you."  
"Ok," she said.  
"It's gonna be a while before we can see each other again," said Corso, "But we can write to each other. You're all I have left to send a letter to."  
"Yeah, I'd like that," she smiled, then looked behind him, "Here comes the transport"  
"I guess I'd better go," Corso picked up his bag," I'll write as soon as I get to the fort."  
"You'd better," said Jayna, hugging him. He started to walk away and she called out to him, "Hey, Riggs!"  
"Yes, ma'am," he called back.  
"You look good in green!" then she turned and ran so he couldn't see her cry.

"All the other guys are jealous that I have such a pretty girl to write to back home," he wrote. Jayna giggled, she was sure no one ever be jealous of her.  
"We've had some pretty bad days here lately," he wrote in another letter, that she read with tears in her eyes, "Sometimes I think the memory of your smile is all that keeps me sane.  
There's something I've been wanting to ask you, and I know this is no proper way to do it, I really should be talking to your father first. Boy I wish I was there with you. Next time I see you, I'll get down on one knee for this. Will you marry me?  
I might not be able to get another letter from you for a while, but write me back with your answer. We're going to try to take back Mannett Point from the separatists. I'll write to you again as soon as I can. Don't worry."  
She held the letter to her chest with shaking hands. She wished she could go get him and bring him home where he was safe.  
Though she knew he probably wouldn't get it before he left, she wrote back her answer, "Yes."

It had been four month and she still hadn't heard from Corso. She knew the fighting was still going on, but she'd hoped, maybe, that he'd be able to write before this. She stayed in her room, watching out the window, imagining that she'd see him coming across the fields.  
"Hey," said a voice in her doorway, and she jumped. It was her sister, Sharine, and her best friend, Anya. She shook her head, embarrassed.  
"Come on," said her sister, motioning for her to follow.  
"We're not going to let you pine away in this room." said Anya.  
"I'm not pining," Jayna lied.  
"So, it wasn't his voice you were expecting to hear instead of mine?" asked Sharine.  
Jayna sat down on her bed, and Sharine and Anya climbed up beside her and hugged her. "OK, you're right," she sighed.  
"Of course, we're right," replied Anya, jumping up and grabbing her hand, "Now, let's go!"  
"Where are we going?" laughed Jayna, allowing herself to be pulled along.  
"We're taking you to the harvest festival and forcing you to have fun!"

They arrive just as the festival opened and stood in the crowd to listen to the mayor speak. Jayna really didn't want to be there.  
"Before I officially open the festival," said the mayor, "I'd like to ask for a moment of silence while I read the names of our local boys who died in the fighting at Mannett Point. " The crowd fell silent.  
Jayna wanted to run, but she couldn't make her legs move. "No, no, no, no" she whispered, closing her eyes. Sharine and Anya took her hands. The mayor read the last name on the list, and she screamed.

A year later, Corso had been discharged. He'd been close to death when they'd found him. The only reminder he had of what happened were the scars that now crossed his throat.   
He'd gone straight to Jayna's house when he'd been released from the hospital and had been greeted by a slap in the face by her sister. That's when he found out he'd been listed among the dead.  
Jayna was gone. Her parents wouldn't tell him where and her friends refused to speak to him. I was almost as if she'd never been there. The only proof he had that she 'd existed was her last letter, agreeing to marry him.  
He sold his parents' farm, there was no reason for him to stay, and went back to the fort. He'd hoped maybe Jayna might return though to spaceport there, but as the months passed, that seemed more and more unlikely. Now he sat in the cantina and stared at his drink.  
"Hey, kid," said the man beside him, "You lookin' for a job?"  
Corso shrugged, "Why not, can't be any worse than I what I'm doing now."   
"That's the spirit," said the man. "I've got a shipment of blasters coming in, in about a week or so. Could use some help. Come on down to the hangar when you're ready. Name's Skavak."


End file.
